Pirate Wars 8
For Raju Montgomery was too much of this that didn't add up. He could have accepted that maybe the pirates had managed to piss off someone in Davion Space to get them to chase... given what Black Jack McGirk had gotten up to it wasn't that outlandish of a notion... and given the damage that the pirates were doing maybe it was past time ComStar had spent some money to hire mercenaries to address the problem.
Given the amount of heavy metal, Raju had to guess that the Mercenaries remaindered by the Precentor for New Avalon must have cost a some serious kroner to pull them out to the periphery The details otherwise just didn't line up... no one pulled a heavy BattleMech Regiment and its supports like that otherwise... and it wasn't that Raju considered himself a naturally suspicious person it was just he had a responsibility to Tamati and the Aurigans who had taken him in, and the situation seemed off.
He decided not to touch the discussion of this 'exodite fleet', but they could work out what was going on there later on. "High Lord Tamati of House Arano, and the Aurigan Reach would like to invite you into talks," He paused, "Once combat operations are concluded obviously."
"Of course," The young colonel replied
Raju frowned. It was one thing dealing with noble scions who had inherited a command and who had been groomed for it from birth... it was another to feel like you were talking to a man who despite his age was directing troops at this level with... too much experience.
"Colonel Shepherd." The sandy haired blonde man was taller than his superior officer... not really a surprise given the difference in age, the man's tactical flash were a pair of crossed pikes.
"Raju Montgomery, this is Lieutenant Colonel Soren Holmgren commanding Bardiche." It was almost too much to hope the man was Lyran, or that that might win him some special consideration. "Did you need something?"
"Not particularly, Waldemar's crusaders have the last of the enemy pinned down in a gulch about four klicks west of here. With the air support tied up or needing to rearm I figured it was a good time to make my report, I didn't realize we had company."
Raju frowned, the Swedenese man had an easy confidence. Maybe not unwarranted but it was the kind of dismissal that came from knowing something that Raju didn't. "So you said you were a regimental combat team?" Mastiff asked stirring the conversation probing for details.
"Yes that right. BattleMechs, tanks, hovercraft, mech INF," He stated emphasizing the abbreviated word, "Ground Aerospace Wing, fleet component."
The Lieutenant Colonel chuckled at his boss's deadpan statement... Raju wanted to gather as much information as he could.. but he also recognized that if he left Kamea and Victoria to their own devices much longer it was that much more likely they'd get impatient and make ... ill thought out overtures that would include introductions and revealing who they were... so long as the two remained buttoned up in their mechs they were just pilots in the Royal Guard.
--
Pasha's expression was one of contemplative concern as reports filtered in from the ground, and in the space around Coromdir VI.
He at least could hide some of his concern behind his beard, his hands told a different story. Pirates adopting the symbols of the Satan Amaris and his lackeys would have incensed even the least morally grounded Azami even in the most normal of times, the Arkab legions would have happily offered to hunt down such rogues for the dragon if it were feasible. IN a world, at a time, when once more the old wounds, and the damage done was set fresh, and torn open to carry the marks of the Rim World Republic... was an abominable affront to the pride and honor of fighting men.
That these worthless scum defaced machines of the Star League Defense Forces so was merely further salt in the psychic wound. To do so was unforgivable... that these were pirates and slavers on top of such... well his hands continued to knit under the table. This was not what he had expected when they had arrived first in the Aurigan coalition, even if he had expected that some engagement against pirates would be on the itinerary. Already he dreaded the conversations with the elders scattered amongst the fleet.
Heedless of such things or at least not commenting the mechanical djinn of the Terran world of Northwind the ai Dante continued to tally the ongoing battle on the surface of the planet. "We have full network coverage,"
"The fools actually thought they were getting away?" Yusef asked over the line. The younger Azami JumpShip master was the picture of glee, you would have thought him a good ten years younger.
The scottish brogue of the machine spirit peaked through a synthetic guffaw, "They were given the opportunity to surrender." The ... living might not have been the best description, but the assault dropships had turned and rolled to engage the DropShip which had broken orbit. Braunfelds and Hedwig named for ancient places on Terra as he understood had struck like lightning when the offer to surrender was rebuffed by the brigands.
"It does seem as if the pirates are not aware of our boarding actions."
"Yes, well, that is what electronic warfare is for." The AI observed, "Point to point laser coms would function but they can't do that to JumpShips without an orbital presence," At least not without a significant, dedicated ground based system... and you couldn't fit one of those on a battlemech... and even on a command vehicle such would have been surely LosTech... and even then with their enemy's holding the orbital high ground the pirates had little hope of being able to relay word to the Jump Point... or for the pirate jumpships to get word out of their predicament.
In a way of course he was relieved... the truth was since he had seen the sleeping leviathan in the anchorage at Lockdale, he himself had not slept well. Warships were the relics of the disastrous early succession wars ... the idea that Kerensky's exodus had retained their warship, such that ... their no doubt prolific descendants would have them to still wield worried him. The appearance of warships would almost certainly mean nuclear responses... the dragon had thus far not used nuclear weapons to attempt to fend off House Davion's blows... but the truth was he was alarmed at the possibility that Kerensky's people might reappear in the time they were making the inbound trip from Alamut and that they would be caught unawares.
It was something of a recurring nightmare... but on the other hand, he was relieved that the battle of Coromdir had no involved such colossal machines.
--
Gene adjusted his boots where it was starting to rub the back of his right heel. He'd get a new pair of boots soon, but these had gotten him through everything after Elidere. They had as far as shoes that he more or less wore every day had held up pretty well, but it was getting time to change them.
His radio came online. "Markham's still staked out at the star port apparently their contractor won't think of letting him leave." That was fair, the merchant wanted that 75 ton Marauder that Markham drove close enough to touch, "His XO should be here any minute boss." Septim remarked over the line, heedless that Gene was fiddling with his foot wear. Cuing his throat mike he grunted an acknowledgement to the information and looked over the situation.
A set of Highlander Assault Mechs drawn from the second company of cadets or recently graduated cadets were positioned on defensive over watch. Their machines were Star League era, they had Gauss Rifles and LRMs if anything entered long range, and they had clean sight lines. Backing them up were further Blackwell industry built tanks and clusters of infantry recruited on Northwind. The omni vehicles filled out an impressive sight, a reassuring sight he imagined to the collected natives.
... now if only there wasn't a large and and prominent Cameron starburst having been erected at garrison... he suspected that the Northwind recruits had probably stolen the idea from the way the 3
rd RCT established their own CP while on Dieron. It was also just as likely that the Northwind natives were doing it directly in response to all the Amaris symbols in the pirates' ranks that was a little more apparent as they dug through tanks, and bits of graffiti covered trucks.
... and with the pirates in mind they were going to need to catalog the battle roms, report that and the combat that to the MRB. That was probably going to raise questions... he wasn't precisely sure how that jurisdiction ... what kind of jurisdictional friction was going to cause. He knew, or at least expected that there would be... but the Aurigan Coalition's government seemed shaky at best... he certainly didn't want to be the one to push it over the edge. The old fortress had had its city spring up around it, that probably compromised some of its defensive integrity, but then again it probably didn't matter all that much... this ... clusterfuck couldn't possibly have been something the locals reasonably would have prepared for.
They were lucky that Coromodir VI's MRB outpost was as large as it was... was it large enough to handle them? Were they even set up to do anything more than credit their account? Was the Precentor New Avalon capable of paying the bounty... probably, but it might end up in an escrow account that would require time and a trip back to Davion space rather than payout in money they could immediately access. He might have been overthinking things, or worrying too much, but it was a thought that had crossed his mind.
